With 100,000 elite soldiers at the start, what should you call me?

……

Yingtian Prefecture.

At this time, Yingtian Prefecture was renamed Jiangning by the Qing government.

Originally the inner city of the Ming Dynasty's Nanjing Imperial Palace, it had become a Manchu city, inhabited only by Manchus and their servants, with no Han Chinese living there.

The one stationed in Jiangning was Dorobele Aisin Gioro Lekedehun.

In the second year of the Shunzhi reign, he was appointed as the General Who Pacifies the South to quell the rebellion in Huguang, eliminate the remaining forces of the Great Shun Dynasty, and defeat He Tengjiao, the Ming Dynasty governor-general who was active in the Huguang area. He was later placed in Jiangning to oversee the region.

After the rebellion was quelled, Lekedehun's seal of the General Who Pacifies the South was taken over by Kong Youde.

Bahana knew that if he wanted to invite Donglekedehun, he had to come in person.

Although Kong Youde held the seal of the General Who Pacifies the South, he could not mobilize troops from all regions.

Take, for example, the Manchu Eight Banners troops who guarded Nanjing.

"Bahana, weren't you with Chen Tai suppressing bandits in Fujian? What are you doing in Nanjing?"

Inside the antique and elegant room, this was once the capital of the Hongguang regime, the first regime of the Southern Ming Dynasty.

However, due to the escape of the Hongguang Emperor and the surrender of the generals in the city without a fight, everything here was given away to the Manchus.

"Sigh!" Bahana sighed with a worried expression and told them everything about Jianning Prefecture.

Hearing Bahana's words, Lekedehun's originally calm and smiling expression gradually turned into astonishment and shock, and then into anger at Kong Youde and the others for their incompetence.

"Hmph, the Regent trusts the Han people too much! I think that Kong Youde has been harboring evil intentions, and today he has finally exposed himself, deliberately sacrificing the brave warriors of our Great Qing!"

"The loss of over ten thousand elite troops has led to a complete loss of control over the situation in the south. Even ten heads wouldn't be enough to behead Kong Youde!"

Enraged, Lecter smashed the teacup in his hand onto the ground.

"It's fortunate that it was you who came to my place. If it had been Kong Youde, I would have definitely sent someone to arrest him and escort him to the capital!"

Bahana gave a wry smile. The General Who Pacifies the South is not someone that just anyone can control, but Lekedehun has the confidence to do so.

"That's why I came here in person. I won't beat around the bush. The situation in the south is showing signs of getting out of control. I came to Jiangning to ask you to send troops to Fujian to wipe out Li Tian."

Upon hearing this, Lekedehun's eyes lit up, but he immediately concealed them.

"Hmph, getting soldiers isn't easy. Just have Kong Youde come here with his seal of the General Who Pacifies the South, and he can mobilize the troops of Jiangning City with a single word!"

"I am not the General Who Pacifies the South, I have no authority to mobilize troops, asking me is useless."

Lekedehun was a former General Who Pacifies the South and a Beile of the Manchu Eight Banners. With his noble status and sense of dignity, he knew that obeying the orders of a Han Chinese was a disgrace.

Bahana's eyes darted around, and he seemed to understand what Lekedehun meant, and said with a smile.

"Regarding the matter in Fujian, I intend to submit a memorial to the imperial court. I believe that soon, Prince Dorobele, you will have the authority to mobilize troops."

Lecder's eyes lit up; "Is that really true?"

"Indeed, but we must not allow the situation in Jiangnan to become chaotic before that. The bandits are currently at the height of their power, and we must not allow them to disrupt the situation again before the imperial decree is issued," Bahana said confidently.

He had already decided to pin all the blame for the defeat on Kong Youde.

Lekd was overjoyed and immediately agreed.

Meanwhile, in Jianning Prefecture.

Li Tian dispatched three armies. The first army swept through Shaowu. This army was equipped with five mortars, plus several breech-loading cannons and red-coated cannons.

The Qing army stationed in Shaowu numbered only a little over three thousand, and after several days of continuous siege, Shaowu was easily captured.

After the new army captured Shaowu, people from all over the country heard that there was a righteous army chasing after the Qing army and rose up to join the new army.

With the help of the people, the First Route Commander Kong Yunfei's supplies of food and provisions were replenished, and his intelligence network became more efficient.

The local people, with the help of those inside and outside, captured the county town of Guangze without losing a single soldier.

This allowed the new army to launch an even faster offensive, capturing Shanguan in less than half a month and also taking Shaowu Prefecture and other places along the way.

Chu Gang's second army defeated Kong Youde and others in a direct confrontation, captured Jianyang City, and then pursued the victory to capture Chong'an.

Kong Youde and his men fled Fujian in haste and eventually settled in Shangrao City, Guangxin Prefecture.

The news of Kong Youde's defeat, leading an army of over 100,000 men, spread like wildfire.

This led to a severe drop in morale within the Qing army, and even the people in Jiangxi and other places, upon hearing of the Qing army's crushing defeat, could no longer contain themselves and raised their flags in rebellion.

Chu Gang successfully captured Fenshuiguan, Gukouguan, and Jiaolingguan by utilizing the powerful mobility and advanced firepower of mortars.

The third army also successfully completed its mission, capturing Pucheng, Cenyang Pass, and Xianxia Ridge.

Meanwhile, upon hearing of the Qing army's crushing defeat, various prefectures and counties in Jianning Prefecture also chose to voluntarily join the new army.

Thus, in less than two months since Li Tianxin's army came into this world, he has taken over Jianning Prefecture and Shaowu Prefecture.

Control several checkpoints leading to Jiangxi and Zhejiang.

The rapid expansion of territory brought joy to the entire new army.

When the three commanders, Chu Gang, Kong Yunfei, and Li Jie, arrived at Jianning Prefecture, they all suggested that the situation was favorable and that they should seize the opportunity to take Zhejiang before the Qing army could react.

However, after discussion, Li Tian and the staff all refused.

Chu Gang was a little anxious, thinking that Li Tian had never been to the front lines and did not know the cruelty of war, so he continued to offer suggestions.

"Commander, you have no idea how brutal the Qing army is. The people under their rule are treated like livestock. When we attacked Jianyang, the Qing army even slaughtered the people under their rule before the battle."

"Of the hundreds of thousands of people in Jianyang, only a little over 80,000 remained after I conquered it. Corpses and remains were everywhere; they didn't even spare the elderly and children. They were nothing but beasts!"

"The Manchus of this era were even more brutal than the Japanese invaders of later generations!"

Having witnessed the brutality of the Manchu Eight Banners firsthand, Chu Gang had planted a seed in his heart.

All the cruel, ruthless, and traitorous landlords must be hanged from locust trees by the roadside, and all the inherently evil Jurchens must be slaughtered.

Kong Yunfei and Li Jie nodded in agreement with Chu Gang's statement.

They believed that China needed to achieve peace as soon as possible during this period.

According to numerous studies by later scholars, there were population changes during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.

During the late Ming Dynasty, the population was between 2 million and 3 million. After the wars, the population fluctuated to between 7000 million and 1.2 million in the early Qing Dynasty.

In particular, the population of the Sichuan region decreased by about 90% during this turbulent era.

In other words, at least 1 million people died in this brutal regime change in China.

However, given the passage of time and the limited information flow in ancient times, the data is bound to be inaccurate.

However, considering the Qing government's bloody policies against the "grainless people" in Liaodong, as well as the brutal massacres of resistance towns after entering the pass, the "keep your head but not your hair" policy of shaving heads and changing clothes, the land enclosure and "forced labor" system, and the harsh laws for apprehending fugitives, it can be roughly determined that this was a dark period in which the population must have experienced a precipitous decline.

"Please don't rush, everyone." Li Tian also felt the pressure on his shoulders.

"Based on the unanimous assessment of the General Staff, we have halted the offensive in order to end this dark age more quickly."

"To end this dark era is to defeat the myth that the Qing army is invincible."

"We have achieved the first point. As you can see, after we defeated the Qing army, uprisings broke out in various places, and people wanted to join us."

"That's right. When I took over the various prefectures and counties, the local people brought food and drink and came out of the city to welcome me, shouting 'The King's Army!'" Li Jie had a deep understanding of this, and it was precisely because of this that he was eager to eliminate the Tartars.

"But the same question arises here: do they want to join us, or do they want to overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming?" Li Tian pointed out this most crucial question.

Upon hearing this, everyone's expressions hardened. This concerned whether the rebels they had recruited would be their true allies.

"So we stopped, not because we didn't want to expand, but to accumulate the strength to deliver the next punch," Li Tian patiently explained the strategic plan formulated by the General Staff.

"Our next plan is to continue developing our strength and wait for the Qing army to gather its main force. At that time, we will fight the Qing army to determine the outcome."

"At the same time, we must rectify internal issues and carry out a major ideological reform among the people of this era!"